The tropical rainforests we see today have evolved Rainforests from those which were growing in the Gondwana land area some 60 or even 80 million years ago. Rainforests are very important to the world as the There are also some that have arrived in plants in the forest turn carbon dioxide into clean Australia in the last 12 million years from over the air, which helps fight pollution. Also, by absorbing close land links with South-east Asia. carbon dioxide, the rainforests help deter the greenhouse effect. The of the rainforest store carbon dioxide in their roots, stems, branches, and Rainforests and fire . The plants and animals of the rainforest also provide us with food, fuel wood, shelter, jobs, and Many of the plants of the temperate rainforests medicines. In every sense, a standing rainforest were widespread on mainland Australia from two supplies more economic wealth than if it were to 66 million years ago. As the climate became cleared, yet deforestation continues at an alarming drier, the frequency of bushfires increased. The rate and many rainforests have been cleared or rainforests contracted and many species became harshly disturbed by logging and hunting. extinct. Species that survived did so in isolated valleys and mountain tops, ie the Wollomi pine. Rainforests are comprised of several layers: the emergent layer, the canopy, the understory, and With the arrival of Aboriginal people and their the forest floor. Aboriginal people have used use of fire as a method of hunting to clear land to tropical rainforests for food, medicinal purposes create re-growth of fresh grasses to attract grazing and wooden supplies for centuries. More than half animals, the frequency of bushfires increased and of Australia’s remaining rainforests are found in the area covered by rainforests became even the northeast part of Queensland but Tasmania, smaller. Now we have European land use patterns Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, and with widespread clearing for agriculture, further the Northern Territory all have rainforests. reducing the size of our rainforests.

Uncontrolled fires in Australian rainforests are Tropical Rainforests relatively rare because there is generally no suitable fuel in the understory. However, when the margins While Australia’s tropical rainforests make up only of rainforests are exposed regularly to fire in the 0.1% of the land mass, it is home to 25% of dry season, the trees and shrubs common on the genera, 30% of marsupials, 60% of bats, 30% of edges of rainforest are replaced by fire-resistant frogs, 23% of reptiles, 62% of butterflies and 18% gum trees and grasses. Fire, therefore, seems to be of birds. the main force defining rainforest boundaries. History of the rainforest

In 1770, when Captain Cook sailed along the Australian coast, 3.6 million hectares of rainforest was growing in Australia. We now have only half of that area remaining today. Before Europeans arrived in Australia, changes in both the arrangement of the world’s land masses and climate also caused changes in Australia’s rainforest. Clearing for agriculture has been the main cause for the decline in rainforest habitat during the last 200 years. It is now estimated that Australia has lost 75% of its rainforest area since then. This was once a rainforest Gondwana

Over 200 million years ago, Australia, Africa, South America, India and Antarctica were one vast continent - Gondwana. Australia and Antarctica broke away from Gondwana about 65 million years ago and then 40 million years ago, they too separated into two continents. Australia moved northwards and the climate became drier, causing changes in both where plants grew in Australia and the type that could continue to grow in a changed climate. Natural disturbances Rainforests coping with disturbances

Rainforests are subject to a number of natural We do not know the age of many rainforest trees. disturbances which result in various changes to Some emergents (the tallest of the rainforest trees) the forest. Some of these changes are rapid, such probably flower, and hence produce , for the as recovery from damage caused by a single first time after 50 to 60 years. Some trees probably falling. Lightning strikes, landslides resulting from live for 200 to 500 years. It may take about 800 excessive rain and even occasional drought also years for all the richness of a rainforest to form periodically disturb and damage parts of the forest. again in a cleared area. This regeneration is only Cyclones are an example of a major catastrophic possible if the disturbance is of a type with which natural event that occurs irregularly and can cause the rainforest has evolved strategies to cope. significant change in a rainforest. Cyclone damage is usually restricted to the canopy but it produces Predicting how a rainforest reacts to and recovers a lot of litter and, with dry weather conditions, fires from disturbance is essential for forest management. can follow. However, because change occurs naturally in a rainforest and we can’t yet predict the effects of Human disturbances disturbances, we do not have the knowledge at present to ensure that rainforests will be able to Logging, soil erosion, stream pollution, the location regenerate from the combination of natural and of roads and power lines, fragmentation due to human disturbances. clearing for agriculture, and the introduction of diseases, weeds and feral animals are all disturbances Why we should conserve rainforests that humans can inflict on rainforests. Some people believe that the disturbances we are responsible People have different answers to the question of for can be controlled so that the result is similar to why we should conserve rainforests. To some it is the effect of cyclones and natural tree fall. Schemes enough that they exist as part of the diversity of for logging a forest on a ‘sustainable’ basis are our planet and therefore we, as just one species on designed to cause disturbance at the same level earth, do not have the right to knowingly destroy as one major natural disturbance about every 40 any ecosystem. Some people say we need to years. Recent research suggests that such regular conserve rainforests because we have not studied and intense logging is not suitable and will in time them fully and do not understand what is there and deplete rainforest plant and animal diversity. If how the whole complex system works. If we can logging is allowed on an extensive, ongoing basis, strive to understand the complex inter-relationships the resulting damage includes removal of of rainforests, there is a greater likelihood that we trees, reduction of food and nesting sites for will be able to more wisely manage these and other animals, and damage to the soil surface by road resources of our planet. construction and use of heavy machinery, which also increases water run-off and so causes greater Conservation for economic reasons soil erosion. Many people believe that the key to conserving any of the planet’s resources is to find an economic use for them. Since rainforests have a biological richness that gives them an immeasurable aesthetic value, they have potential use in recreation and tourism as people seek to visit and enjoy such an environment.

The use of rainforests as a tourist attraction, which could form the basis of an industry, is seen as a worthwhile reason by many to fight for rainforest conservation. Some parts of the rainforest also have established and potential economic values. Apart from commodities such as timber, food and Clearing of Tasmanian rainforests for drugs already in use, there could be new foods and plantations drugs, and a source of new genes to hybridise with some of our existing highly selected but disease- prone cultivars. Tropical rainforests are dense, wet forests, found in high rainfall regions. The high rainfall (at least 3,000 mm or 100 inches annually) and steady warm temperatures produce luxurious forest growth. Tropical rainforests have closed canopies which allow very little sunlight (around 12%) to reach the forest floor. Tropical rainforests play a very important role in our environment as they contain an amazing range of different plants and animals. Each level of the forest from the tops of the trees to the forest floor supports its own flora and fauna and they all work together to maintain the A major tourist attraction - Skyrail over the forest. On the forest floor it is very hot, humid and stagnant for there is little circulation of the rainforest in the Barron Gorge National air. The forest floor is always damp and shady. The Park, Cairns lower canopy consists mainly of young trees halted in growth from lack of sunlight. Then there is the Conflicts arise when there are differences in main canopy which consists of some fully grown opinion about the importance of the different types trees and palms. This canopy can be as high as 50 of ‘values’ placed on rainforests. Ideally, we should metres or 160 feet tall. Trees and shrubs generally be able to manage the resource properly for as have elongated crowns. Each is set at the best many uses as possible. Such wise management angle to catch as much sunlight as possible. requires more research to gather the necessary information about this complex, interdependent system of plants, animals, soils and climate.

Types of rainforests in Australia

Tropical rainforests

Tropical rainforests grow in Queensland between the tip of Cape York Peninsula and Ingham, near Townsville. The Australian tropical rainforest ecosystem is one of the most complex on earth. Its plant diversity and structural complexity is unrivalled on the Australian continent and represents the origins of our more familiar ‘Australian’ flora. Cape York Peninsula contains Australia’s largest remaining area of lowland tropical rainforest.

Ulysses Butterfly: (Papilio ulysses) has become a symbol of tourism throughout Northern Queensland. It is commonly found from Mackay north, but appears more prevalent in upland rainforest areas

The Wet Tropics World Heritage Site incorporates 19 national parks, 31 state forests, five timber reserves and one Aboriginal and Islander reserve. The area extends along the north-east coast of Queensland from just south of Cooktown to just north of Townsville. These wet tropical rainforests of north-east Queensland have the richest fauna Fungi in Australia. Although the region represents about 0.1% of the land surface of the continent, it contains 30% of marsupial species, 60% of bat species, 18% of bird species, 30% of frog species, 23% of reptile species and 62% of butterfly species in Australia. Some 54 species of vertebrates are unique to the area. There is normally a well developed multi layered canopy of between 10 and 60 species of trees, many of which will exhibit the buttressing commonly associated with rainforest trees. Strangler species, including the ubiquitous strangler fig, stands of bangalow palms, woody vines and large epiphytes such as orchids, birdsnest, elk and staghorn ferns will be obvious, and the ground cover will consist of ground ferns and large leafed herbs.

Strangler fig

Subtropical rainforests stretch from near Mackay in Queensland to below Wollongong in New South Wales, near Sydney.

The Daintree rainforest

Subtropical rainforests

Subtropical rainforests are generally found where the rainfall is more than 1,300mm annually and growing in fertile eutrophic parent rocks (basalt and rich shales); you’ll most likely find subtropical rainforest favouring sheltered gullies from sea level to about 900 metres.

Waterfall in sub-tropical rainforest, Lamington National Park

Warm temperate rainforest

Found on poorer soils consisting of rocks such as rhyolite, trachyte and slates in the Tweed (Wollumbin) volcano region, and on the more fertile eutrophic rocks in southern cooler regions, a warm temperate rainforest requires rainfall over 1,300mm per year. Distinguished by a two Subtropical rainforest, Gold Coast hinter- strata layer which creates a more even canopy of land trees, only 3 to 15 species will be evident, with stranglers, palms, woody vines and buttressing rare or absent. The tree trunks tend to be slender and uniform in appearance, with distinct circular shaped communities of whitish lichens covering the bark. Tree and ground ferns are frequent, and epiphytes can be common but are not generally abundant in the numbers or species present. Cool temperate forest (Antartic beech)

Littoral rainforest

Littoral rainforest is similar to subtropical rainforest, but occurs when it is close to the sea and exposed to salt laden winds. Usually on nutrient enriched deep sands or soils derived from slates and basalts, it’s considered more as a distinctive series of communities rather than a subform of rainforest.

Combining the characteristics of both subtropical and dry rainforest types, it is distinguished by Epiphytes on ficus watkinsiana the prevailing wind sheared upper tree canopy, with some communities displaying prominent stands of such as hoop pine (Araucaria The commonest trees are species such as cunninghamii), plum pine ( elatus), and coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), sassafras featuring species such as tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis (Doryphora sassafras) and scentless rosewood anacardioides). (Synoum glandulosum). Three other distinctive rainforest or semi rainforest Warm temperate rainforests grow in parts communities occur in some regions but are not of Victoria, and in western and north-eastern generally recognised as subforms. One of these, Tasmania. palm rainforests, is dominated by bangalow or cabbage palm stands, and is often found in company Cool temperate rainforest of melaleuca (Ti Tree) swamp forests.

The cool temperate rainforest is noted for its commonest and most often only dominant species, the Southern or Antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei), which is testament to Australia’s being part of the southern supercontinent, Gondwanaland, more than 130 million years ago.

Found at altitudes of 900 to 1,500 metres, cool temperate rainforests receive between 1,750mm to 3,000mm of rain annually, and are often shrouded in frequent mists when it is not raining.

While they mostly display 2 strata, you will sometimes find just one, with a uniform canopy of just 2 or 3 species. Stranglers and palms are absent, A small grove of littoral rainforest in the as is plank buttressing, but the tree trunks can be of Towra Point Nature Reserve massive size. Large vines and epiphytes will be rare or absent, although thin wiry vines and a few small ferns and orchids may occur. Ground ferns and tree ferns are very common and mossy epiphytes and lichens are in greatest abundance here. Dry rainforest

Dry rainforest types are distinguished from subtropical rainforest by scattered emergent species such as hoop pine, teak (Flindersia australis) and lacebark (Brachychiton discolor) trees in the upper canopy and 10 to 30 species in the lower canopy. Buttressing and palms are uncommon or absent.

Very large vines are common, and a prickly shrub layer, with species sporting delightful common names like ‘wait-a-while’ and ‘lawyer’ vine, is usually well developed. Ground cover is limited to leaf litter and sometimes a few species of large epiphytes. Dry rainforest is usually found on fertile eutrophic rock soils, and favours sheltered warm Rainbow lorikeet areas with rainfall around 600mm to 1,100mm per year, marked by a dry spell. Australia’s spectacular tropical rainforests are home to primitive plant species, birds and marsupials found nowhere else in the world. Giant strangler figs standing 70 feet tall, crimson and green king parrots, sulphur crested cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, bandicoots and tree kangaroos are just a few of the species filling these forests with colour and sound.

Dry rainforest in Tasmania

Australiaʼs special conservation respon- sibilities

Australia is the only country that has a full suite of rainforests from tropical to temperate; it is also the only country in the western world that has Sulphur-crested cockatoo rainforests. As such, Australia has a responsibility to keep its rainforests intact. Australia is sufficiently prosperous to take a long term view and use its The ancient rainforests of northeastern Queensland forests carefully and sustainably. preserve millions of years of evolutionary history. Much of Queensland was once covered in Fortunately in Australia our focus is now on rainforests, but agriculture, farming, mining and conserving our remaining rainforest. Interest is logging have destroyed and disrupted rainforest increasing in the reafforestation of once-cleared habitat, with only a narrow belt remaining along the areas, in establishing plantations of valuable timber eastern coast. Australia moved to confront these species, in the restoration of logged or degraded threats faster than most tropical countries, and forests, and in management and further research most of its remaining forests were protected under into rainforests. World Heritage designation in 1988. Some categories of animals that live in the rainforest are:

Arachnids - they have six legs, simple eyes, and no antennae. Some examples are spiders, mites, ticks, and scorpions.

Long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta)

This decision was quite controversial as there is a The wolf spider (Lycosa sp.), the most conflict between preservation and the immediate commonly sighted spider in the Daintree need to use natural resources. Many farmers wish Rainforest to utilise environmentally sound measures, yet face the possibility of going out of business in the Insects - they have hard jointed exoskeletons. The next decade due to economic pressures. If efforts adult body has three parts: the head, thorax, and to restore the rainforests of Queensland are to abdomen. succeed, they must also provide economic benefits for the local community. Amphibians - they are cold blooded and live in warmer parts of continents. They tend to be Australia remains the last continent to be discovered aquatic and are limited to moist surroundings. and is rich in biodiversity. It has so many unique and even unregistered and unnamed biological Reptiles - they are cold blooded and limited to species that it’s just remarkable. And we’re out temperate and tropical areas. They usually creep there hunting for them. Like the gold rush of 150 or swim, which is similar to amphibians. Reptiles years ago that lured thousands of hopeful treasure lay large shelled eggs or in some cases give birth seekers, bio-prospectors and global drug giants to live young. have staked claims to areas of forest hoping to tap jungles that harbour diverse and unique plant life. Birds - they are warm blooded and most species are capable of flying; however some are sedentary The jungles beckon with the promise of a world- and some are flightless. They lay shelled eggs and beating find worth a fortune - a cure for cancer, HIV care for young in a nest. or Alzheimers, or a chemically unique antibiotic to knock out super bugs like Golden Staph which haunt hospitals around the world.

The yield so far from Australia’s northern rainforests, mainly in Queensland and Western Australia, is several new compounds for antibiotics, new pesticides which are close to commercial production and a pill that could prevent prostate cancer. Scientists caution that it takes 15 years and a huge investment to bring a new pharmaceutical to market, and only one in 1,000 discoveries make it. Agri-chemicals and dietary products are quicker to market, and even they offer pay-dirt worth hundreds of millions. Bio-prospectors range from scientists with licence claims, through to large numbers of illegal hopefuls. Brush turkey (Alectura lathami) Mammals - they are warm blooded animals consisting of three main groups: marsupial, monotreme, and placental.

The echidna is an egg-laying mammal known as a monotreme

The platypus